This week I am working on another sweater. How crazy to be doing two sweaters at once! I had saved up for this one, and then got a gift card for Christmas so I went ahead and started on the one I featured last week.

This sweater is Simplicity by Mary Annarella. It’s a lace-weight, drapey yoga sweater that can be worn open or tied. The yarn is a dreamy baby alpaca and silk blend called, unsurprisingly, “Silky Alpaca Lace” by Classic Elite.

This is my first lace yarn project. Luckily I’ve heard quite a few podcasts about how to knit with such fine yarn, but there is a definite learning curve. Pointy needles are key. Also, I found that the increases on this were EXTREMELY difficult the first few rows, just due to the lightness of the yarn. I had to cast on a sample in a heavier yarn and bigger needles to practice the different increases. I just could not see them at first in the lace yarn. Once I figured out the anatomy, it went much more smoothly.

I also had to use small pieces of yarn as stitch markers because regular ones pulled and distorted the yarn too much.

It’s a slow-moving project, but I put a few rows on it each day. It should speed up considerably once the increases are done and it’s time to separate the arms from the body. At least that’s what I am telling myself.

You can see in the photo that I’ve had to write out the stitch count for each row so that I don’t mess up. It’s the only way I can keep everything correct. Tedious. But worth it.

In regards to the reading, I am about to start the first Maisie Dobbs novel. Do you like how I artfully blurred to book in the photo? So fancy. Can’t wait to escape into the world of the late 1920’s with this mysteries series!

You are a brave knitter! I have such a hard time with those finer projects. After looking at some of the posts on the yarn along, I looked back at my site and realized that I’m really partial to some pretty easy projects! Maybe I need to branch out.

Wow, I appreciate you saying that. I have been knitting for a while now and I do like to learn new techniques. I usually have something mindless going as well for my less lucid moments! Never a bad thing to branch out a bit and try something new, but keep it fun!